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Insights from Googlers into our products, technology, and the Google culture
New mobile apps for Docs, Sheets and Slides—work offline and on the go
April 30, 2014
Every year, phones and tablets get better, and more of you are starting to use your mobile devices not just to view, but also to create and edit content. And while the Drive app is a convenient place to store your stuff, we want to make it easier for you to quickly find, edit and create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go. Starting today, you can download new, standalone mobile apps for
Docs
and
Sheets
—with
Slides
coming soon. Need to find a spreadsheet? Go to the Sheets app. Need to create a document? Go to the Docs app. They’re all right there at your fingertips.
When you open the new apps, you’ll see your most recently edited files, which means less time searching and scrolling.
The apps also come with offline support built in, so you can easily view, edit and create files without an Internet connection. Now, if you have a brilliant idea for a best-selling novel while traipsing through the Amazonian rainforest (or you know, something more probable, like during flight takeoff)...no problem. You can jot down your idea in the Docs app on your phone, even when you’re offline.
You can get the apps on Google Play [
Docs
] [
Sheets
] and in the App Store [
Docs
] [
Sheets
]. If you don’t have time now, over the next few days you’ll be prompted to download the apps when you go to edit or create a document or spreadsheet in your Drive app. And of course, you’ll still be able to use the Drive app to view and organize all of your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, photos and more.
So enjoy the Amazon—we’re looking forward to buying that novel someday. And in the meantime, just remember: even if a crocodile eats your phone, your files are safe in the cloud!
Posted by Brian Levee, Product Manager
See how Doodle 4 Google state winners would make the world a better place—and vote for your favorite
April 29, 2014
In February, we asked K-12 students across the country to doodle about the one thing they’d invent to make the world a better place—and we were amazed by their curiosity and creativity. For many students, environmental issues were top of mind, resulting in impressive and artistic doodles depicting water and air purification or turning garbage into flowers. Another common theme was really smart robots; they clean up garbage or help students with their homework. Others created possible solutions for solving obesity or eliminating world hunger. And we saw some thoughtful ideas around time travel and goggles that help you see the world from another person’s point of view so you can truly understand them.
From more than 100,000 creative ideas, we’ve selected the best one from each state with the help of our
guest judges
. Today, we’re celebrating the 50 state winners—little ones just six years old to high school seniors—at their schools from Fort Paine, Ala. to Moorcroft, Wyo., and from Anchorage, Alaska to Plant City, Fla. We’ll reveal the winning artists in front of their classmates, teachers and parents and, in some places, their local mayors or elected officials.
Now it’s your turn to cast a vote for your favorite Doodle. Starting today through May 9, you can go to the
Doodle 4 Google site
to help select one winner for each age group. On May 21, we’ll host all 50 state winners at our headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., where we’ll reveal the five age group finalists as well as the national Doodle 4 Google winner.
Then, for the first time ever, the national winner will get to hang out with our team in Mountain View and animate their doodle. You’ll see the spiffed-up version on our homepage on June 9. For now, don’t forget to
vote
!
Posted by Ryan Germick, Doodle Team Lead
The latest chapter for the self-driving car: mastering city street driving
April 28, 2014
Jaywalking pedestrians. Cars lurching out of hidden driveways. Double-parked delivery trucks blocking your lane and your view. At a busy time of day, a typical city street can leave even experienced drivers sweaty-palmed and irritable. We all dream of a world in which city centers are freed of congestion from cars
circling for parking
(PDF) and have fewer intersections
made dangerous by distracted drivers
. That’s why over the last year we’ve shifted the focus of the Google self-driving car project onto mastering city street driving.
Since our
last update
, we’ve logged thousands of miles on the streets of our hometown of Mountain View, Calif. A mile of city driving is much more complex than a mile of freeway driving, with hundreds of different objects moving according to different rules of the road in a small area. We’ve improved our software so it can detect hundreds of distinct objects simultaneously—pedestrians, buses, a stop sign held up by a crossing guard, or a cyclist making gestures that indicate a possible turn. A self-driving vehicle can pay attention to all of these things in a way that a human physically can’t—and it never gets tired or distracted.
Here’s a video showing how our vehicle navigates some common scenarios near the Googleplex:
As it turns out, what looks chaotic and random on a city street to the human eye is actually fairly predictable to a computer. As we’ve encountered thousands of different situations, we’ve built software models of what to expect, from the likely (a car stopping at a red light) to the unlikely (blowing through it). We still have lots of problems to solve, including teaching the car to drive more streets in Mountain View before we tackle another town, but thousands of situations on city streets that would have stumped us two years ago can now be navigated autonomously.
Our vehicles have now logged nearly 700,000 autonomous miles, and with every passing mile we’re growing more optimistic that we’re heading toward an achievable goal—a vehicle that operates fully without human intervention.
Posted by Chris Urmson, Director, Self-Driving Car Project
Through the Google lens: search trends April 18-24
April 25, 2014
From
Lupita
topping the People 50 to
LaMarcus
dropping 46, it’s time to look again at the top trending items on Google Search.
The games we play
The NBA and NHL playoffs both kicked off in earnest this week, and searches for hockey and basketball topics lit up the scoreboard. In fact, the Chicago Blackhawks occupied a post in
Google’s Hot Searches
list
every day
but one since last Friday. The defending Stanley Cup champions are playing a tight (and, as of Wednesday, tied) series against the St. Louis Blues; they also drew controversy this weekend when stories emerged of the Blackhawks taunting Blues captain David Backes after a hit that got the Hawks’ Brent Seabrook suspended.
In the NBA, it was all about the big plays. Searches for the OKC Thunder’s Kevin Durant peaked after he made a ridiculous four-point play while (and I don’t use this word lightly) literally falling out of bounds on Tuesday. The last time Durant came close to this level of search interest was
on January 30
, after a 12-game 30+ point scoring streak. And the Portland Trail Blazers’
LaMarcus Aldridge
was on fire on the court and on Google, scoring more than 40 points in his team’s first two playoff games against the Houston Rockets… on the road—making him one of only three players ever to do so. On a more somber note, searches were also high for longtime sideline reporter
Craig Sager
, who revealed on Sunday that he has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
Moving to the diamond, [
pine tar
] was the top searched topic overall on Wednesday after Yankees’ starting pitcher Michael Pineda was caught red-handed (and sticky-necked) using the substance, a violation of MLB rules, while elsewhere in the American League the Angels’
Albert Pujols
hit his 500th career home run. And during Monday’s Boston Marathon (a trending topic both this week and last),
Meb Keflezighi
became the first American to win the race in more than 30 years, making him a “breakout,” with nearly 1,000% increase in search interest over the last year on Google Search.
Stranger than fiction
Alongside searches for Easter and Earth Day, there were a few unconventional celebrations this week. Dyngus Day, a Polish-American holiday taking place on Easter Monday and similar to Poland’s Śmigus-Dyngus and Hungary’s Vízbevető, was a top topic in search on Monday (O.K., so it wasn’t
the
top topic, but it was top of mind for many).
Traditionally celebrated
by boys
throwing water
over girls, in the U.S. Dyngus Day celebrations include parades, traditional foods and polka music. Whatever its origins, interest in Dyngus Day
has been growing steadily the past two years
since barely registering on Search in 2012.
What the… powdered alcohol?! That’s what some people were thinking when they searched for [
Palcohol
], a powder that turns water into alcoholic drinks. It was approved by U.S. regulators earlier in the month, but this week the decision was rescinded. And when a 15-year-old boy caught a ride from San Jose, Calif., to Hawaii in an airplane
wheel well
, stunned searchers came to Google looking for images of wheel wells to understand how someone might survive such a feat—especially without the beverage cart.
Posted by Emily Wood, Google Blog Editor, who searched this week for [chekhov gun first act] and [hedgehogs in costumes]
Explore new careers with the first virtual Take Your Classroom to Work Day
April 24, 2014
For 21 years, Take Your Child To Work Day has helped kids understand what moms and dads do all day after they leave the house. And even if kids don't realize it at the time, it also serves an important role in helping youngsters learn about what kinds of jobs they could do when they grow up. Unfortunately, not all kids are lucky enough to get these opportunities.
Today, we’re giving kids everywhere a chance to “visit” some of the world’s most exciting workplaces. Working with Forbes,
Connected Classrooms
is hosting 18 virtual field trips to places like the
Georgia Aquarium
, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
, the
Stanford National Lab
and the
Chicago Bulls locker room
, using Google Hangouts. Professionals from all walks of life will discuss their day-to-day roles and how they got there, so students—regardless of budget or geography—can be exposed to a wide range of careers and get excited about their future.
The full list of events is available on
Forbes’ site
, but here’s a preview of what you can expect:
Learn about
careers in government
with U.S. Senator for Connecticut, Eric Murphy
Watch the behind-the-scene production of the
morning bell ceremony at NASDAQ
Hear how chef Keizo Shimamoto created the
ramen burger sensation
Get an inside look at
running a magazine
with Forbes editor Randall Lane
See how YouTube celebrity chef, Laura Vitale,
runs her own online cooking show
Explore
monster movie making
with the Stan Winston School of Special Effects
We hope you’ll tune in at 6am PT for the first career hangout, and check out
Connected Classrooms
throughout the day for new, live field trips.
Posted by Lisa Jiang, Google+ Education Partnership Lead
Go back in time with Street View
April 23, 2014
If you’ve ever dreamt of being a time traveler like
Doc Brown
, now’s your chance. Starting today, you can travel to the past to see how a place has changed over the years by exploring Street View imagery in
Google Maps
for desktop. We've gathered historical imagery from past Street View collections dating back to 2007 to create this digital time capsule of the world.
If you see a clock icon in the upper left-hand portion of a Street View image, click on it and move the slider through time and select a thumbnail to see that same place in previous years or seasons.
Now with Street View, you can see a landmark's growth from the ground up, like the
Freedom Tower
in New York City or the
2014 World Cup Stadium
in Fortaleza, Brazil. This new feature can also serve as a digital timeline of recent history, like the reconstruction after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in
Onagawa, Japan
. You can even experience different seasons and see what it would be like to cruise
Italian roadways
in both summer and winter.
Construction of the
Freedom Tower
, New York City
Destruction in
Onagawa
, Japan after the 2011 earthquake
Forget going 88 mph in a
DeLorean
—you can stay where you are and use Google Maps to virtually explore the world as it is—and as it was. Happy (time) traveling!
Posted by Vinay Shet, Google Street View Product Manager
Going solar with SunPower
April 23, 2014
Just because Earth Day is over doesn’t mean we’re done doing good things for the planet. Yesterday we announced
our biggest renewable energy purchase yet
: an agreement with our Iowa utility partners to supply our data center facilities there with up to 407 megawatts of wind energy.
Today, we’re taking another step towards a clean energy future with a major new investment. Together with
SunPower Corporation
we’re creating a new $250 million fund to help finance the purchase of residential rooftop solar systems—making it easier for thousands of households across the U.S. to go solar. Essentially, this is how it works: Using the fund ($100 million from Google and $150 million from SunPower), we buy the solar panel systems. Then we lease them to homeowners at a cost that’s typically lower than their normal electricity bill. So by participating in this program, you don’t just help the environment—you can also save money.
A home sporting SunPower solar panels
SunPower delivers solar to residential, utility and commercial customers and also manufacturers its own solar cells and panels.They’re known for having high-quality, high reliability panels which can generate up to 50 percent more power per unit area, with guaranteed performance and lower degradation over time. That means that you can install fewer solar panels to get the same amount of energy. And SunPower both makes the panels and manages the installation, so the process is seamless.
This is our
16th renewable energy investment
and our third residential rooftop solar investment (the others being with
Solar City
and
Clean Power Finance
). Overall we’ve invested more than $1 billion in 16 renewable energy projects around the world, and we’re always on the hunt for new opportunities to make more renewable energy available to more people—Earth Day and every day.
Posted by Rob Parker, Renewable energy team
Ok Glass… Let’s celebrate Earth Day
April 22, 2014
Part of honoring Earth Day is celebrating the people who dedicate their lives to protecting our planet’s most vulnerable species. You’ll find one of those people in the tall grasslands of Nepal’s
Chitwan National Park
, where Sabita Malla, a senior research officer at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is hard at work protecting rhinos and Bengal tigers from poaching. She spends her days collecting data about wildlife in order to track the animals, assess threats, and provide support where needed. Now, she’s getting help from something a bit unexpected:
Google Glass
.
Last year, WWF started exploring how smart eyewear could help further its conservation mission in the Arctic and the Amazon as part of the
Giving through Glass
Explorer program. Now they’ve brought it to Nepal to see how it could help monitor wild rhinos. Take a peek:
Rhino monitoring can be a slow process, especially in habitats with tricky terrain, but data collection is crucial for making the right conservation decisions. Most parts of Chitwan National Park are inaccessible to vehicles, so Sabita and her team ride in on elephants, and have been collecting health and habitat data using pencil and paper.
Now custom-built Glassware (the Glass version of apps) called Field Notes can help Sabita do her work hands-free instead of gathering data in a notebook. That’s helpful for both accuracy and safety when you’re on an elephant. Using voice commands, Sabita and other researchers can take photos and videos, and map a rhino’s location, size, weight, and other notable characteristics. The notes collected can also be automatically uploaded to a shared doc back at the office, making it easier to collaborate with other researchers, and potentially a lot faster than typing up handwritten notes.
This is just one example of a nonprofit exploring how Glass can make their critical work easier. Today, we’re looking for more ideas from you.
If you work at a nonprofit and have an idea for how to make more of a difference with Glass, share your ideas at
g.co/givingthroughglass
by 11:59 PDT on May 20, 2014. Five U.S.-based nonprofits will get a Glass device, a trip to a Google office for training, a $25,000 grant, and help from Google developers to make your Glass project a reality.
To learn more about Google.org's ongoing collaboration with World Wildlife Fund, visit
this site
.
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org
Through the Google lens: this week’s search trends
April 18, 2014
What did you search for this week? What about everyone else? Starting today, we’ll be sharing a regular look back at some of the top trending items on Google Search. Let’s dive in.
From afikomen to 1040EZ
People were looking for information on Palm Sunday and Good Friday ahead of Easter;
searches for both days
were even higher than searches for the Pope himself. Turning to another religious tradition, with Passover beginning on Monday we saw
searches
rise over 100 percent for Seder staples like [charoset recipe], [brisket passover] and of course [matzo balls]. Alongside these celebrations, U.S. citizens observed another annual rite of spring: taxes were due on April 15, leading to a
rise in searches
for [turbotax free], [irs] and (whoops) [turbotax extension].
But what made this year different from all other years? A rare lunar eclipse known as the “blood moon,” when the Earth’s shadow covers the moon, making it look red, and which occurred on Tuesday. There were
more than 5 million searches
on the topic, as people were eager to learn more. (Hint: if you missed seeing the blood moon this time around, keep your eyes on the sky in October. This is the first lunar eclipse in a “lunar tetrad,” a series of four total lunar eclipses each taking place six lunar months apart.)
Say goodbye and say hello
This week marked the first anniversary of last year’s
Boston Marathon
bombing, and commemorations led searches for the term [boston strong] to rise once again. And just yesterday, we were saddened by the passing of
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
, the Colombian writer best known for his masterpiece “100 Years of Solitude”—not to mention responsible for high schoolers across the U.S. knowing the term “magical realism.” On a happier note, former First Daughter
Chelsea Clinton
announced she’s expecting.
Entertainment that makes you go ZOMG
“Game of Thrones” fans—at least those who hadn’t read the books—were treated to a bombshell in this past Sunday’s episode when (
spoiler alert
) yet another wedding turned murderous. Searches for [who killed joffrey]
skyrocketed
as people struggled to process the loss of the boy king we love to hate. On the more sedate end of the Sunday TV spectrum, we welcomed back AMC’s “Mad Men,” which continues to provide viewers with plenty of innuendo, allusion and fashion to chew on—and
search
for—in between episodes.
The trailer for the highly anticipated film version of “Gone Girl” dropped this week—vaulting
searches
for [gone girl trailer] nearly 1,000 percent—as did a
clip
from another book-to-movie remake, “The Fault in Our Stars.” Between these two films we expect no dry eyes in June and no intact fingernails come October. At least we’ve got something funny to look forward to: as news broke this week that Fox 2000 is developing a sequel to the 1993 comedy classic "Mrs. Doubtfire,"
searches
on the subject have since spiked.
And that’s it for this week in search. If you’re interested in exploring trending topics on your own, check out
Google Trends
. And starting today, you can also sign up to
receive emails
on your favorite terms, topics, or Top Charts for any of 47 countries.
Posted by Emily Wood, Google Blog Editor, who searched this week for [gossip girl vulture recaps] and [tron bike lights]
Providing more CS professional development for K-12 teachers with an expanded CS4HS
April 17, 2014
For more than five years, we’ve provided free and inexpensive teacher professional development trainings in computer science education through
Computer Science for High School (CS4HS)
. In this program, Google provides funding and support for experts to create hands-on professional development training in CS education for K-12 educators. The goal is to arm teachers with the knowledge they need to help their students succeed in the field. The program has already trained more than 12,000 teachers, and reached more than 600,000 students—and we’ve gotten great feedback over the years (a 95% satisfaction rate!).
It’s been a great success, but there is still much more to do. So this year, we’re taking the first steps toward extending CS4HS across the globe. We’re piloting CS4HS projects in Latin America for the first time—an area where computer science education is often mistaken for computer literacy (think word processing, typing, or changing settings on your operating system rather than robotics or coding a game). We’re also introducing
eight new online workshops
, so teachers no longer need to be located near a CS4HS event to get quality training.
It’s not just the “where” we’re expanding, but the “when,” as well. We’re now providing new resources for teachers to get ongoing, year-round help. Our Google+ Community page hosts Hangouts on Air with CS industry leaders, Googlers, and top educators on a regular basis. And we’ve added a new
Resources page
with online workshops, tutorials and information on computational thinking, robotics and more. Finally, if you happen to be in the neighborhood at the right time, sign up for one of our in-person workshops available around the world in these locations:
Posted by Erin Mindell Cannon, Google Education Program Manager
From Lake Tanganyika to Google Earth: Using tech to help our communities
April 3, 2014
Today we're joined by Dr. Jane Goodall, primatologist and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots & Shoots program. In this post, Dr. Goodall shares her thoughts on how today’s technology can enable more people around the world to make a difference in their communities. Join Dr. Goodall for a celebratory
Birthday Hangout on Air
today at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT.
-Ed.
When I first set foot on the shores of
Lake Tanganyika
in 1960 to study chimpanzee behavior, I carried with me notebooks, pencils and a pair of second-hand binoculars. I was, at the time, a young woman with no scientific training, but had a strong passion for learning about animals in Africa. In later years I founded the
Jane Goodall Institute
, dedicated to preserving the habitat of chimpanzees and other animals worldwide.
The author connects with a member of the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe.
Photo courtesy of JGI.
Today, the mapping technology available to all of us is completely changing the potential for animal and environmental research. My trip in 1960 would have looked quite different today. You have much more power at your fingertips, and you don't even have to leave your home. Tools like
Google Earth
let you visit the shores of Lake Tanganyika with just a few keystrokes. And in
Gombe
, local villagers are using Android smartphones and tablets, in conjunction with Google Maps Engine and Earth Engine, to
monitor changes in the forest habitat
that affect chimpanzee populations. Technology makes it so easy for people to find and share information and to understand the world around them. And once we understand, we can start to foster positive change.
The Jane Goodall Institute engages local communities from Tanzania, Uganda and across Africa to collect data on forests, wildlife and human activities using Google Android handheld devices.
Photo courtesy of JGI/Lilian Pintea.
That’s one of the reasons we started the
Roots & Shoots
program to connect young people with the knowledge and tools they need to solve problems in their communities. The projects undertaken by these young people help them learn important science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills while developing real leadership capabilities. Today, Roots & Shoots is launching a new
community mapping tutorial
for young people to help them use digital mapping technology to identify and address needs in their community. If you’re an educator, we offer online professional development to help you fit our youth leadership model into your classroom and curriculum. You can sign up for the
Roots & Shoots MOOC
to learn more.
Roots & Shoots groups from Uganda, Tanzania, and Republic of Congo share their projects.
There are more than 8,000 Roots & Shoots groups in 136 countries. Photos courtesy of JGI.
Today, on my 80th birthday, my wish is for young people around the world to think about the ways you can use technology to learn more about the wonderful world we share. Then, to take action, and inspire others to do the same. You have the power to do so much more than I did in 1960, to spark change I could only imagine back then. And you can do it no matter where in the world you are.
Posted by Dr. Jane Goodall
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